National efforts to enhance transparency and thwart corruption in the Caribbean will be strengthened by a Commonwealth conference hosted this week in Jamaica.

The Commonwealth Caribbean Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies stages its annual conference in Kingston, as part of a two-year-old regional initiative launched by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Jamaica’s Contractor-General, Dirk Harrison, said the aim is to share practical operational experiences and to enhance national systems and programmes.

“It’s looking at how we actually investigate, and how we share and gather information,” he said. “We have sought, through the Commonwealth Secretariat, to ensure that we have a number of partners on board that we can share best practices and learn from each other.”

Bringing together 30 international delegates from a dozen Commonwealth member countries, it is the third time the regional network has met since it was formed in Grenada in 2015. The meeting runs from 24 to 28 April 2017.

It builds on last year’s Tackling Corruption Together conference, at which governments, businesses and civil society committed to deliver a more coordinated response to corruption.

The meeting is spearheaded by the Office of the Contractor-General and the Commonwealth Secretariat, in collaboration with the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency, and Revenue Protection Division.

Anti-corruption adviser Roger Koranteng is representing the Commonwealth at the event. “This conference is a valuable platform for sharing experiences, frameworks, toolkits and insights in the fight against corruption and the promotion of good governance,” he said.

“As anti-corruption commissions and bodies share know-how of areas that are central to continuing development, we will work together to identify opportunities for benchmarking and peer learning.”